Category Archives: marketing trends

NZ Marketing Insights & Trends 2020

 

It’s that time again, when we dust off the crystal ball and peer into the future of New Zealand Marketing for the year ahead.

Following on from the success of our previous trends presentations, we’ve developed our latest Marketing Insights & Trends NZ 2020 Presentation, which focusses in on some of the hottest and most important NZ marketing topics and trends for 2020 and beyond.

This comprehensive slide presentation is available for you to present to your clients and colleagues as a preview of what marketing trends to expect in 2020.

This presentation looks ahead at what marketers should expect and plan for in 2020 — based on local and global trends you may not yet have had the opportunity to examine — turning those forecasts into a comprehensive report & slide deck in PowerPoint format (with accompanying notes) – information that you can easily present to your team and your clients, bringing everyone up to speed on the latest New Zealand Marketing Insights as we accelerate into 2020. All presentations are unbranded, so you can add your own branding and comments.

Each presentation consists of at least 150 slides, dealing with as many key insights.

Prepare for 2020 with a comprehensive presentation to your team or your clients

Our NZ MARKETING INSIGHTS & TRENDS FOR 2020 presentation and slide deck will be released in January 2020 but we have a very special offer saving you $50 if you pre-order today (see details below).

Some of the key topics featured include:

The first section of the presentation takes a look at what we can expect in 2020, globally and within New Zealand, from an economic and political perspective. Another election year in NZ, more international machinations.

Topics of note include:

  • The New Zealand population will reach 5 million by 2020. What are the implications?
  • Too many Kiwi marketers don’t believe we are ready for the new digital world. How can we prepare more effectively?
  • Global economic trends are not encouraging, and New Zealand business confidence indicators are lagging. Should we be worried?
  • IDC researchers estimate that by the end of 2020, more than 60% of New Zealand business-to-consumer organisations will have adopted Net Promoter Score as their leading success metric. Is that a good thing?

Consumers, in New Zealand as elsewhere, are constantly changing their behaviours, their attitudes and their preferences. We take a look at some of the macrotrends and microtrends that are influencing what we want and what we need, and the implications for marketers.

Amongst the Kiwi consumer trends we examine:

  • goodbye to plastic bags and hello to a more sustainable environment where “do no harm” is taking precedence over convenience
  • the hyper- personalisation of everything
  • Millennials and Generation Z reinventing customer behaviours
  • B2Me taking over from B2C
  • cultural shifts reshaping consumer behaviour in seemingly contradictory ways
  • the endless march of the sharing economy
  • the growing adoption of click and collect
  • the next step in subscription meal kits, with pre-prepared, ready-to-cook meals beginning to substitute for kits containing recipes-plus-all-ingredients
  • plant-based meat replacements gathering momentum, soon to be joined by substitutes for fish
  • medical apps putting the future of health care in the palms of patients’ hands
  • consumers now want to know much more about the sources of products they buy, especially food and drinks
  • they are more responsive to new products than they’ve ever been. The downside of that new attitude: 92% of consumers simply don’t consider themselves brand-loyal
  • consumers are becoming more willing than ever to expand their comfort zones, push themselves to the limit with new experiences
  • they are using social media to compete with and offer inspiration to their peers

Influencer marketing has gained a lot of buzz in 2018 and 2019. Will that continue in 2020, especially now that the most common currency, likes, seems to be evaporating into the ether on both Instagram and now Facebook? We review the possibilities.

We also take a look at recent research to determine exactly how influential these Kiwi micro-personalities actually are, and how they compare to others elsewhere in the world.

And we peek at upcoming influencer trends, including:

  • the growing use of AI in influencer marketing
  • expansion into more engaging content formats, including interactive and VR/AR
  • more formal development of ambassador programs for influencers
  • data-driven influencer campaigns
  • more focus on storytelling
  • more prominence for videos
  • the emergence of TikTok and Twitch as influencer marketing channels
  • thinking outside the ‘gram

Our Search analyses cover a wide range of subjects, including:

  • Position zero, also known as the featured snippet at the top of a Google results page, represents the first search result that appear for a particular query. Are you the best answer to someone’s question?
  • Google has now implemented mobile-first indexing for all searches through mobile devices. If your website isn’t mobile-ready, it won’t be found.
  • Social media is now a factor in search engine ranking. Better get your act together there as well as on your website.
  • Voice search is going gangbusters, With ComScore predicting that by 2020, 50% of all searches will be by voice.
  • Your search results will benefit if you dig deep and analyse the keywords in which your prospects are actually interested. So how do you do that? We share some actionable tips.
  • And video continues to make a huge impact on search rankings.

Video continues to be white-hot, with more and more marketers adding online video to their list of must-have tools and techniques for 2020. Not all videos are created equal, however, and we look at the demand for Vertical Videos (thanks, Instagram), Square Videos (preferred by the social networks), Outstream Videos and other permutations and combinations now on offer.

Automation has given marketers an ever-increasing ability to personalise content on-the-fly, tailoring messages to both customers and prospects. As it turns out, consumers have noticed, they like it and they expect more and more messages to be customised just for them. In fact, research indicates that many consumers say that they are likely to ignore or abandon uncustomised messages in favour of more personal communications. But marketers struggle to find enough data to make meaningful customisation of their messages.

We look at the specific personalisation trends and opportunities in 2020, including real-time personalisation of videos and other multimedia offerings.

The new European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which came into effect in mid-2018, has cast a long shadow around the world. Many governments are actively considering reshaping their own legislation to mimic the European requirements and major data users such as Facebook and Google have evolved their own rules and regulations to ensure that they are compliant with GDPR. We examine the continuing implications for marketers in 2020 and look at the new NZ Privacy Act.

Driven in part by consumers’ migration to mobile devices (and the consequent implications for smaller file sizes and download speeds) and by the usual evolution of creative expression, we’re seeing a number of new trends in website and app design that will have a major influence in 2020.

Video and animation are becoming the design elements of choice, even with data size restrictions. We review what’s hot and what’s not for the year ahead.

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are both staking a claim on consumer attention for the near future. So far,there’s one clear frontrunner: Augmented Reality only requires a mobile phone and the appropriate software, while VR still needs goggles and/or other accessories. Don’t expect that situation to change much in 2020 but keep an eye on the future as other technological developments speed the evolution.

We look at what you need to know about Artificial Intelligence, its uses and its possibilities in marketing.

In particular, you need to know:

  • how Artificial Intelligence is currently being used in marketing
  • Artificial Intelligence Tools that are available for you to use to improve your marketing operations
  • planned and imminent developments for AI that may impact on your marketing effectiveness
  • how AI is currently being used to assist consumers
  • the implications (and the risks) of consumer uses of AI

Blockchain has had its reputation a little tarnished by bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, although Facebook and its partners may change all that with its recently-announced Libre currency. Still, blockchain’s underlying technology has the potential to have a substantial impact on many industries, not least of which is marketing.

We review what’s currently hot for blockchain in the marketing and advertising arena, and help you to understand what it might mean for you.

The transformation of television from linear, scheduled content to smorgasbord, watch-what-you-want-whenever-you-want offerings continues at a frantic pace. Netflix’s position as dominant Subscription Video provider will be strenuously challenged in 2020 as new players Disney+ and Apple TV make their New Zealand debuts. We examine the implications, both for audiences and for marketers.

And we look at the lessons already learned through Spark Sport’s experience with the Rugby World Cup and what that means for the combination of live sport and streaming.

We delve into the latest developments in Social Media, covering Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

There’s a whole lot to cover, including:

  • The latest statistics on social media usage in New Zealand.
  • The move towards greater transparency in social media advertising, including the ability to view current advertising executions (a great competitive tool and a source of inspiration as you prepare your own social media advertising).
  • A continuing crackdown on privacy and security, in the wake of Cambridge Analytica, alleged Russian hacking in the European introduction of GDPR restrictions on data sharing.
  • Increased developments in Augmented Reality, as the technology expands beyond Snapchat filters and Pokémon games and into videos, live events and enhanced customer engagement.
  • A new focus on news by social media platforms, all intended to get consumers to stay longer with their platform.
  • Increased use of AI to refine audience segmentation and to combat fake news.
  • The introduction of cryptocurrency (as announced by Facebook with its Libra initiative), especially intended to serve as a purchasing mechanism for products and services advertised on Facebook.
  • Increased capabilities for Facebook and LinkedIn groups.
  • Growth in social media as a search engine, especially for visual search and product research.
  • Consolidation of Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp connectivity, including the ability to share messages across both platforms.
  • Video live-streaming becomes an essential element of much social media marketing.
  • The introduction of more transactional services to social media, as more and more WeChat (China) innovations are copied and introduced to the West.
  • Preparing for new generational trends, as Gen Z begins to intrude on the social territory already carved out by the millennials.

Next we turn our attention to Experiences, review their importance (especially for millennials) and run through upcoming major events for the year.

We review the big movie titles that will attract the most attention during 2020.

And we examine the New Zealand media trends expected to impact on marketers in 2020.

But Wait, There’s More

A roundup of other key marketing technology trends follows, including Programmatic Advertising (still flourishing despite the closure of KPEX).

We consider the transformative effects of 5G cellular.

And we close with a brief look at other Future Technology trends that will impact in later years.

Personal Use and Agency Use Rights

This NZ MARKETING INSIGHTS & TRENDS FOR 2020 report, like all our Marketing Insights presentations, comes with personal use and agency use rights: you can present these reports to your own team and to your clients and prospects, bringing everyone up to speed on the latest marketing insights and trends as we accelerate into 2020. All presentations are unbranded, so you can add your own branding and comments.

All of our presentations in this Marketing Insights series consist of at least 150 slides, dealing with as many key insights.

PRE-ORDER NOW AND SAVE $50

Once it’s published, the “NZ MARKETING INSIGHTS & TRENDS FOR 2020” report and slide deck will be available for $697+GST.

However, as a SPECIAL PRE-ORDER OFFER, you can sign up this month and pay just $647+GST. This special offer is only available until MIDNIGHT TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24.

Click here to pay by credit card through PayPal:
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Once we receive your payment, we’ll drop you a quick email confirming your order. Then, once the presentation is released, we will send you download details for your copy of the NZ MARKETING INSIGHTS & TRENDS FOR 2020 report & slide deck.

ABOUT THE REPORT

Oh, in case you’re wondering who we are to be preparing such a report:  the NZ MARKETING INSIGHTS & TRENDS FOR 2020 report & slide deck has been prepared (like its predecessor reports on 2017, 2018 & 2019) by Michael Carney, long-time adman, author, media director and strategic planning director. Michael is also the creator/training director of Netmarketing Courses, which provides online training across a wide range of digital marketing disciplines. See our About page for more.

Marketing Trends Series for 2018

Following on from the success of our Marketing Insights for 2018 trends presentation, we’ve developed a Marketing Insights NZ 2018 Presentation Series which focusses in on some of the hottest and most important NZ marketing topics and trends for 2018 and beyond.

marketing-insights-presentation-programme

These presentations look ahead at what marketers should expect and plan for in 2018 — based on local and global trends you may not yet have had the opportunity to examine — turning those forecasts into a comprehensive report & slide deck in PowerPoint format (with accompanying notes) – information that you can easily present to your team and your clients, bringing everyone up to speed on the latest New Zealand Marketing Insights as we accelerate through 2018. All presentations are unbranded, so you can add your own branding and comments.

Each presentation consists of at least 150 slides, dealing with as many key insights.

We’ve settled on six of the most important topics of the year ahead, starting with a comprehensive look at the New Zealand marketplace:

NZ Marketing Insights 2018

Our NZ MARKETING INSIGHTS FOR 2018 presentation and slide deck is now available.

Some of the key topics featured in our NZ MARKETING INSIGHTS FOR 2018 presentation include:

Social Listening
Consumers, as they do, may well already be talking about you and your brand online, and if you don’t know what they’re saying, they could do significant brand damage. We consider what to listen for, how to listen and what to do next.

Influencer Marketing
The Internet in general, and social media in particular, has brought us thousands of influencers and micro-influencers, whose hustling on behalf of a product can encourage many of their followers to actually purchase said product.

Why? Because, according to a report by Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from individuals over brands. And, let’s face it, many brands have brought that fate upon themselves by their own less-than-trustworthy behaviour.

In this report, we consider the importance of Influencer Marketing — and explore how to identify effective Kiwi micro-influencers who will be good ambassadors for your brand.

Amazon’s Arrival Down Under
What happens when the online shopping giant arrives in your neighbourhood? We look at the good, the bad and the ugly implications for NZ retailers and marketers.

Machine Learning & AI
The machines are taking over. All hail our new robot overlords. No, it’s not Skynet — but when you ask Google a question, the answers are powered by RankBrain, machine-learning algorithms that are getting smarter every day.

And then there’s chatbots, which are making a big difference for both customer service and sales conversion funnels. We bring you up to speed on this significant technology.

Google Goes Mobile-First
In early 2018, Google is expected to launch its mobile-first search algorithm, which will give priority to mobile-ready results (hardly surprising, given the high proportion of searches now conducted exclusively on mobile devices). So what does that mean for Kiwi marketers?

Dark Social
It’s a catchy name — typically describing consumers talking to each other via messaging apps, email and other non-social channels — and it’s now a major force to be reckoned with. With dark social reported to be responsible for 84% of outbound sharing it’s an area that marketers can’t afford to ignore in 2018.

But Wait, There’s More

Now let’s look at some of the other marketing trends that will impact on Kiwi marketers in 2018.

The Big Picture
This first section of the presentation takes a look at what we can expect in 2018 from an economic and political perspective, in the wake of NZ First’s decision.

Who We Are
Then we review our demographic and behavioural profile, based on the latest consumer lifestyle studies and statistics.

New Zealand Media
We delve deeply into the new breed of television offerings as the medium continues its inexorable migration online. We examine new Internet-delivered offerings from Sky and Vodafone TV and consider the potentially-far-reaching implications for marketers.
We look at up-and-coming movie blockbusters for 2018.

Then we turn our attention to Experiences, review their importance (especially for millennials) and run through upcoming major events for the year.

Then it’s time to turn our focus to digital.

We review some of the staggering statistics as a majority of New Zealand opts for unlimited data and consider the implications for NZ marketers now that Mobile dominates Internet usage.

We delve into the latest developments in Social Media, covering Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Google Plus.

We update the latest online video numbers and then dig deep into Messaging Apps.

A roundup of key marketing technology trends follows, including Personalisation, the Internet of Things, Augmented Reality, AI, Programmatic, Virtual Reality, Drones, Context Brokering, Blockchain and Wearables.

And we close with a brief look at Future Technology trends that will impact in later years.

Purchase your copy today

As we mentioned, our MARKETING INSIGHTS FOR 2018 presentation (comprising several hundred slides) is now available. It’s unbranded, for you to present as you see fit to your clients.

This presentation looks ahead at what marketers should expect and plan for in 2018, across a wide variety of industries and technologies — based on local and global trends you may not yet have had the opportunity to examine — turning those forecasts into a comprehensive NZ MARKETING INSIGHTS FOR 2018 report & slide deck in PowerPoint format (with accompanying notes) – information that you can easily present to your team and your clients, bringing everyone up to speed on the latest New Zealand marketing insights as we accelerate through 2018.

The “NZ MARKETING INSIGHTS FOR 2018” report and slide deck is available for just $597. Scroll down to order.

2 Content Marketing 2018 (available NOW)

content-marketing-nz-2018

Content Marketing continues to blossom, especially in New Zealand, as more and more brands realise that consumers are doing their own homework online rather than seeking advice from salespeople (who may — how can we put this delicately? — not be entirely objective).

One of the solutions: provide helpful, relevant content online so that when consumers do their homework, you’re able to shape their thinking accordingly.

That’s why Content Marketing has earned its place as one of the topics we cover in this year’s Marketing Insights Presentation Series.

Here are some of the issues we feature:

The power of Nearby and Micro-Moment Marketing
The ubiquitous smart phone continue to change the game. Where once longform content was king, now snackable snippets — served up in answer to queries like “restaurant near me” — have become the new currency. We explore the trend and its implications.

Content Marketing as Defensive Mechanism
So many people are talking — not always positively — about brands and companies online, and organisations don’t always get the chance to present their own point of view as part of that conversation. As a result, many are turning to Content Marketing as a means to get their message out there.

Talking to Your Own
Content marketing has also seen itself become an internal PR tool, used to communicate in a planned and more effective manner with staff, dealers and suppliers. How are you ensuring that your own people know what they should about your organisation?

Overcoming “Content Shock”
Even when marketers do invest in Content Marketing, there are challenges. One of the biggest challenge: getting heard out there, in the midst of the ever-increasing cacophony of social media posts, blogs, video and all. It’s been dubbed “Content Shock” — and we look at how to deal with it.

Content Will Get useful or Get Ignored
Smart marketers will begin to invest in bigger content projects such as creating free and robust online tools, writing the go-to books in their industries, and creating environments where their customers can build a community to share knowledge

Accountability
Content marketers will be held accountable not just for how much content they create, but what it does for the business (much like demand generation teams).

Other topics that feature in this presentation include:

  • Personalisation
  • Engagement
  • Data-driven Insights
  • Interactive Experiences
  • Face-to-face Opportunities & Live Events
  • challenges of developing engaging visual content
  • the talent shortage
  • Algorithm-driven content distribution
  • Live video
  • compelling content experiences
  • the emergence of AI journalism
  • Immersive Content Formats
  • Science-based content marketing
  • The rise of the Content Librarian
  • The continuing rise of paid promotion and the decline of organic reach

Scroll down to order.

4 Search Marketing 2018 (coming soon)

search-marketing-nz-2018

Next: an examination of Search Marketing Trends as we head through 2018.

In this presentation, we’ll wax lyrical about a wide ranging collection of topics, including:

Mobile Really Must Be First
In May 2015, Google reported that mobile searches had surpassed desktop searches on its search engine. Since then, the company has taken many steps which signal that mobile, not desktop, should be considered as the default user experience. Google is moving towards giving priority to mobile-centric indexing, which means that your website must as well.

Three Seconds is the New Fast
According to a study Google presented in late 2016, website that gain priority in search results will be expected to load in three seconds or less. That’s simply a recognition by Google of the impatience of mobile-wielding web surfers. As you might imagine, that has direct implications for your website structure — and whether or not you opt for accelerated mobile pages (AMP) or Progressive Web Apps (PWA), which allow a website to work as if it were an app.

How Machine Learning is Revolutionising Google Search
Google CEO Sundar Pichai laid out the corporate mindset: “Machine learning is a core, transformative way by which we’re rethinking how we’re doing everything. We are thoughtfully applying it across all our products, be it search, ads, YouTube, or Play. And we’re in early days, but you will see us — in a systematic way — apply machine learning in all these areas.”

Perils of the Google Answer Box
In 2017/18, brands will need to place value on optimizing their digital content based on intent rather than specific keywords. As you have no doubt noticed, Google has become more and more likely to offer up specific answers rather than simply links to search results.

For example, here’s Google’s answer to the query “what is the height of mt egmont”:

google-height

So how do you get chosen to be the answer to such a query? We explore the options.

Google Shopping Now in NZ
Google Shopping has arrived in New Zealand and is likely to play a larger and larger role in commerce-based search queries. We look at the players so far and examine the possibilities.

Big Data + Search = Attribution Challenges
Today’s conversion paths are extremely complex and as a result, micro-moments matter more than ever. Engaging with customers’ days, weeks, and even months before they’re ready to convert is going to be the new norm.

Reconsider Bing
Bing is a big player among the new breed of digital assistants. It’s fueling the search of Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa, apart from being the default search engine of Microsoft’s Cortana. Ignore it at your peril.

The Move to Natural Language Queries
Why does Google have this irresistible interest in natural language? Sure, on an ideal level, it’s because Google wants “to provide the better answer to users’ needs,” and to do that, Google must:

  • Understand what each web document is about (semantics);
  • Understand what users are actually searching for, now that more and more using their voice to search

Voice Search
Already 20% of mobile queries are Voice Search (and will be 50% in 2020, according to Microsoft). Voice Search is going above and beyond voice recognition and evolving into voice understanding. This involves several changes with respect to:

  • previous searches
  • location-based context
  • context based on frequently used apps
  • personalised information
  • keyword research based on spoken queries

How should marketers modify their content to cope with those new search parameters?

The Search Marketing presentation also looks at:

  • the big challenges of cross-channel marketing
  • getting to know Google RankBrain
  • image recognition searches
  • Key SEO Stats
  • Google’s top 3 ranking signals
  • User Experience Optimisation
  • Content Marketing That Impacts SEO
  • and, of course, a whole lot more

3 Online Video Marketing 2018 (coming soon)

online-video-marketing-nz-2018

Online Video is no longer an “up-and-coming” marketing tactic — it’s here, and it’s a powerful way to communicate your brand story, explain your value proposition, and build relationships with your customers and prospects.

And the statistics show that it’s working its socks off, especially with younger audiences:

video-by-device

The 2016 Nielsen New Zealand Multi-Screen Report, covering trends of Kiwi video viewing, reveals that around a quarter (26%) of New Zealanders watch TV content through other devices (not a TV set) in an average week. Besides the TV set, the most popular devices for watching video content across a week are desktops/laptops (39%), smartphones (27%) and tablets (18%).

We offer a training course covering Online Video Marketing, but the topic has become so important that we’re also creating this special report/presentation to bring you up to speed with the latest developments in Online Video.

In the presentation, we cover:

Google Loves Video
It’s not always evident down our way, but Google gives priority in search results to those that include videos. Which spells opportunity: add videos to your pages, optimised for relevant keywords, and feel the Google love.

Customers Now Expect Moving Pictures
When you realize that 25% of consumers will lose interest in your brand if you don’t have a video explaining your product or service, you’ll quickly decide the videos are really important for your brand as well.

The Transformative Nature of Live Video
Facebook and YouTube have gone all-in on live video, giving live content pride of place on their respective networks. If you can create relevant, entertaining live video for your brand, this just could be the most effective weapon in your marketing arsenal.

One Size No Longer Fits All
Gone are the days when you could make one video on Youtube and share it all over social media. Nowadays, it’s vital to create content that’s relevant to each platform.

Vertical Videos Are A Thing
The near-universal adoption of smartphones, as both capture and viewing mechanism, means that Vertical Video is now a valid — and desirable — format. But you do need to develop content that’s optimised for that format.

More Videos Will Be Designed to Play Without Sound
According to Digiday, 85 percent of Facebook video is watched without sound. Suddenly, that stark statistic underlines the necessity of providing effective captions for your videos. In this section we reveal a surprisingly easy way to create captions for Facebook.

Other topics featured in this presentation include:

  • the steady growth of VR and 360 degree videos
  • how brands have already started integrating videos into their website design
  • the unexpected value of video voicemail
  • skyrocketing Video Advertising budgets
  • the accelerated growth of Video Retargeting
  • Increase in A/B Video Testing
  • Crisis Management and Video
  • the viral ingredients of successful videos

All that and the latest breaking news and trends, in the Online Video Marketing NZ 2018 report and slide presentation, coming soon. Again, to order see the available packages below.

5 Social Media Marketing Trends 2018 (coming soon)

social-media-trends-2018

Now we turn the spotlight on social media trends for 2018, inspired by an infographic from Filmora (available here).

1 Video

First on the list is the least surprising of all: social goes video. Yep, all those moving pictures clamouring for attention on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram (now joined by LinkedIn, which has recently added its own native video offerings) will continue to get all the attention.

What that means for marketers: if you are not using video in social media, you are much less likely to get noticed — and even less likely to get remembered. According to data gathered by Filmora, 95% of video messages will be retained by consumers while only 10% of text-based posts will enjoy that privilege.

Oh, and if you can, make those videos live. Facebook Live videos are watched three times longer than regular videos.

2 Ephemeral is Hot

The move to short-lived content, pioneered by Snapchat and shamelessly copied by Instagram Stories, will continue to be a thing in 2018.

Why? There are a few factors at work, including:

  • increased concentration on the actual post content, precisely because it will disappear
  • fear of missing out, because the messages are limited and time-constrained
  • users can afford not to worry about little things like spelling, grammar or accuracy, because their messages don’t hang around long enough to be critiqued

3 Chatbots are multiplying

There are now some 12,000 active chatbots on Facebook Messenger and it is estimated that 30% of our chat conversations will be with the little creatures this year.

Why? Because, in many cases they are smarter than humans — at least when it comes to talking about what they know (are programmed) to chat about.

If you already know the most frequently asked questions about your organisation, a chatbot is the simplest, most efficient and friendliest (!) way to share that information with your prospects and customers.

4 Influencer Marketing is growing strongly

Influencer Marketing is the fastest-growing marketing channel, according to Filmora data.

That’s because, with all due respect to traditional media channels, Influencer Marketing is (or can/should be):

  • more targeted
  • more credible
  • more affordable

Influencer Marketing can also be more successful, according to 94% of those who use the channel.

And, since these days consumers put more trust in friends, whanau and peers, Influencer Marketing is an easy approach to gather endorsements that hopefully turn into sales.

5 Mobile, Mobile, Mobile

Yeah, we may never actually arrive at the long-promised “year of the mobile“, but this is pretty darned close.

More than 90% of Kiwis under 55 now have smartphones and, guess what, we actually use them — most especially, for checking in on social media many times a day.

And yes, that means that any marketing or promotion that you do on social media needs to be mobile-friendly — and, if you are sending anybody from a social medium to your own website, that better be mobile-friendly as well.

All that and of course much more, in the Social Media Marketing NZ Trends 2018 report and slide presentation, coming out soon. Again, to order this presentation, see the available packages below.

6 Influencer Marketing 2018 (coming soon)

influencer-marketing-nz-2018

Our next special report/presentation deals with the fast-growing topic of Influencer Marketing.

If you’re not sure exactly what Influencer Marketing is, allow TapInfluence to explain:

Influencer marketing is a type of marketing that focuses on using key leaders to drive your brand’s message to the larger market. Rather than marketing directly to a large group of consumers, you instead inspire / hire / pay Influencers to get out the word for you.

Influencer Marketing has evolved from humble origins to end up as the preferred buzzword to describe the current iteration of a well-established and familiar marketing tool: using “celebrities” to promote your products.

There’s a bit more to Influencer Marketing than just plunking a few celebrities into a TV commercial, however. Today’s definition of “celebrities” (Influencers) has broadened to encompass those who are, in the words of Andy Warhol, “famous for 15 minutes”.

At the same time, the number of celebrity followers that an Influencer might attract has shrunk from hundreds of thousands to, sometimes mere hundreds (whose celebrity leaders have been accordingly dubbed micro-influencers).

The Internet in general, and social media in particular, has brought us thousands of influencers and micro-influencers, whose hustling on behalf of a product can encourage many of their followers to actually purchase said product.

Why? Because, according to a report by Nielsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from individuals over brands. And, let’s face it, many brands have brought that fate upon themselves by their own less-than-trustworthy behaviour.

Anyway, here’s how Google Trends depicts Influencer Marketing’s growth in search popularity over the last few years:

im-trends

How hot is Influencer Marketing, really?

Here’s one indicator: 84% of US marketers are planning to use Influencer Marketing this year (according to Acorn Influence).

So, to bring you up to speed with Influencer Marketing, we’re producing this special presentation, whose topics include:

The Seven Most Effective Influencer Marketing Strategies
As it turns out, there’s a bit more to Influencer Marketing than simply tracking down people who seem to have a lot of followers in social media. We share proven strategies which will help lessen potential heartache.

How to Choose the Influencers Who are Right for You
Not all Influencers are created equal (and there are more than a few pretenders to the throne out there). We discuss what to look for (and what to avoid) — and why you should proceed slowly as you assemble your Influencer team.

Best Practices on Connecting with Influencers
Once you’ve determined the most appropriate Influencers for your brand, it’s time to reach out and connect. If you’re not careful though, and haven’t thought through the right approach, you might be turned down — or end up paying too much. We share lessons from others that will help ease the way.

Where and How to Find Kiwi Influencers
There are surprising numbers of influential New Zealanders who have attracted a wide following through their efforts on YouTube, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and elsewhere. We show you how to find them — and also sound a few cautionary notes.

In the Influencer Marketing NZ Presentation, we also examine:

  • the top Power Words to use
  • creative ways to incentivize influencers
  • Influencer Marketing measurement, KPIs & ROI
  • the four Rs of effective Influencer Marketing
  • how to run successful Influencer Marketing campaigns
  • what Google’s purchase of Famebit tells us about the future of Influencer Marketing
  • why major players are now buying Influencers
  • Influencer Case Studies
  • Influencer Marketing Tools
  • why Influencer campaigns fail
  • the fastest way to destroy your Influencer Marketing efforts
  • twenty trends that will shape Influencer Marketing in the next year

All that and of course much more, in the Influencer Marketing NZ 2018 report and slide presentation, coming out soon. Again, to order this presentation, see the available packages below.

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The Trump Shock & The Dangers of Only Listening to Others Like You

The Trump Shock

The Trump Shock & The Dangers of Only Listening to Others Like You

2016 really has been a year for Black Swan events — results that were as transformative as they were unexpected.

First it was Brexit, then President Trump.

The media, researchers, commentators and academics all expected a different result. Yes, their data suggested, it would be close — but smart money was on the traditional outcomes.

The people voted otherwise — to the shock and horror of the usual suspects.

So what happened — and, from our perspective, what are the implications for marketers?

JUST TALKING WITH THEMSELVES

It’s become more and more apparent in recent times that online social chatter — especially via forums such as Twitter — has been dominated by highly vocal contributors who often behave like (not to be too delicate about it) bullies, criticising and marginalising those whose opinions are not the same as theirs.

Unsurprisingly, those with contrary views have therefore been removing themselves from what was supposed to be a debate but instead has become a monologue.

As a consequence, many crowd platforms have become single-voice platforms … and nowhere is that more evident than in the political arena, where silence has become the preferred option for those whose views run contrary to prevailing viewpoints.

That does not mean, of course, that the silent crowd has changed its opinion — simply that it saves its efforts for the ballot box, where such opinions can, and in fact have, changed nations.

In the UK, it’s been dubbed the “Shy Tory” factor:

Shy Tory Factor is a name given by British opinion polling companies to a phenomenon first observed by psephologists in the 1990s, where the share of the vote won by the Conservative Party (known as the ‘Tories’) in elections was substantially higher than the proportion of people in opinion polls who said they would vote for the party. This was most notable in the general elections of 1992 and then 2015, when the Conservative Party exceeded opinion polls and comfortably won re-election. (Wikipedia)

THE LESSONS FOR MARKETERS

Colin Shaw, writing on LinkedIn in 2015 in the aftermath of the unforeseen UK election landslide, suggested three lessons for marketers. We’ve added two more, which we’ll get to in due course:

Why did people say they were going to vote one way and then change their mind? My take is people often say one thing and do another.

Since many marketers are also responsible for polling for their brand, maybe we can glean some wisdom from the polling failure by taking a closer look at Why People Say One Thing and Do Another.

Reason #1: It is a complex process to understand what people (and Customers) want.

The pollsters weren’t trying to get it wrong. They were earnest in their efforts to get a sample on which they could predict where the election was headed. So they, like all of us, were scratching their heads when the dust settled, and the Conservatives won a clear majority. Even if they were reaching a broad sample of the British population, the answers they got back might not have been accurate. Why? Because sometimes the voter didn’t know what they wanted yet. What they wanted for the election was “hidden” in their subconscious, down in the emotions.

What Can Marketers Learn From This?

Many times there is a hidden part of how a Customer feels that drives their behavior. You might complete research where Customers tell you they want something, implement that something, and see no change in Customer behavior. It’s important to look for the causes of the behavior to see what Customers really want. We find most often in our work that these causes are hidden down in the emotional subconscious.

Reason #2: People have two ways of thinking about things and whichever one is in control at the moment will direct their behavior.

We know there is a big difference between what people say and what people do.Sometimes people don’t know what they want until they are forced to make a decision, as in the voting booth. However, the way people make decisions many times, is with their heart not their head. In Professor Daniel Kahneman’s book, “Thinking Fast and Slow,” we learn about the System One (emotional, instinctive, fast) and System Two (methodical, logic-based, slow) thinking. On the poll inquiry, they could have used System One thinking, answering quickly without using their more rational thinking from System Two. However, System Two might have showed up for the actual vote. Or vice versa. It is, in many ways, mysterious.

What Can Marketers Learn From This?

Essentially, the difference between what people say they will do and what they actually do is the core message of our Emotional Signature. People are not rational, so basing your actions on research addressing the rational side of your experience is not going to get you to where you need to go. Every brand has an experience that generates emotions that drive your Customer’s behavior—and they are not rationally based. Exploring the emotions connected to your brand is going to give you a much better basis for predicting how Customers react.

Reason #3: Marketers need to consider how the data is being collected.

In an article on the Huffington Post on the polling debacle, a correspondent argued old methodologies for polling might have contributed to the error. Polling results come from sampling the population, usually via their home phone. As many of you can imagine, it is increasingly difficult to reach people on a home number. Why do pollsters still use the home phone in 2015 you might ask? Because there is a consensus among pollsters that mobile phones “are unreliable.” But frankly, if you aren’t reaching me on my mobile you can rely on not reaching me. I have a feeling that’s true for more than one of you reading this.

What Can Marketers Learn From This?

It’s important to change your methods of communication if you want to get a “sample” of the population. Don’t let the way things have always been done be the driver for your methods.

Politics and polling go together. They are essential to those who run and those who vote. However, in the election in the UK [last year], the pollsters failed to provide an accurate representation of voters’ intentions, leaving many wondering if the methodology needs a closer look. My take is it probably should, but also that human irrationality and emotions played a part in the inaccuracy as well.

And a fourth reason, which Mr Shaw didn’t mention at the time:

Reason #4: those with opinions that are not considered “politically correct” simply won’t share them publicly

As we’re starting to see from post-mortems on Brexit and on the Trump presidency, when consumers hold contrary views, they’ve learned to keep those to themselves. Even so, when the time comes, those opinions will still drive their actions.

What Can Marketers Learn From This?

Whether you’re launching a new product or promoting an existing one, you should take care to canvas the opinions of a representative cross-section of your target audience. Too many products have failed because they were based on the needs and desires of the creators of the marketing (and their peers) rather than the wishes of the true consumers.

Then there’s a fifth and perhaps most important consideration of all, contributed to Forbes by John Carpenter the day after the Trump result:

Reason #5: Strong Emotions Can Really Make A Big Difference

While polling data correctly predicted [that Hillary Clinton would win the popular vote], it failed to make the more nuanced call that anger among working class white voters ran deep, and would drive them to the polls in larger numbers than the luke-warm Clinton supporters in the Democratic base.

Many pollsters are whining that they got the big picture right. What they got wrong was the much-harder-to-measure sense of how likely people were to vote. They knew that Clinton, like Trump, was disliked by many voters. What they failed to predict was that Clinton’s “negatives” would weaken turnout among people who had voted for Barrack Obama – votes she needed and didn’t get, especially in key states.

Trump is no luddite. He understands the power of the social media echo chamber, maximizing the strength of his 14.2 million Twitter followers to spread his unfiltered message. His opponents, meanwhile, angrily denounced him in post after post, most of which were read almost exclusively by like-minded opponents.

Arguably, similar passions for change drove pro-Brexit voters in the UK.

What Can Marketers Learn From This?

Are your supporters passionate — or merely accepting? Would they go out of their way to choose your product over a competing brand? Are they true fans, or might they easily be wooed away by a better price or a more enticing argument?

If you don’t know the answer to that question — or, worse, if the answer is negative — then your brand is vulnerable.

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